THE doctrine of Adoption is one of the great doctrines of the New Testament in connection with which we have some of its noblest utterances by the inspired writers such as: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. viii. 17). “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. . . . Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (I. John iii. 1). Surely these are seraphic utterances by the commissioned ambassadors of heaven. Other statements might be quoted showing the privileges of the children of God. The Apostle Paul speaks of the glory that is to be revealed in them—of “the glorious liberty of the children of God.” The goodness of the inheritance of the sons of God is often referred to in language of impressive beauty—it is “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled that faileth not away” (I. Pet. i. 4). It is reserved in heaven for them “while they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Truly may the children of God join with the Psalmist in singing:
“God is of mine inheritance
and cup the portion;
The lot that fallen is to me
Thou dost maintain alone.
Unto me happily the lines
in pleasant places fell;
Yea, the inheritance I got
in beauty doth excel.”
—(Metrical Psalms xvi. 5-6.)
How came it about that sinful men and women entered into such glorious privileges. The answer is given in the Gospel according to John (i. 12): “But to as many as received Him to them gave He the power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in His name which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God.” The relationship is supernatural and is not to be mentioned in the same day with the modern idea of sonship so common in certain religious circles of modern times. This kind of sonship is to the scriptural doctrine of sonship as the dim flickering light of a candle to the full orb’d glory of the sun in its noon-day splendour.
The doctrine of Adoption did not have a place in the theology of the Reformation such as the doctrine of Justification. We have no great outstanding works on the subject as Owen on Justification, or Luther on Galatians. It has been pointed out that the subject is not even indexed in Dr. Hodge’s Systematic Theology. The Westminster Divines, however, gave it its place in their Confession (chap. xii.) and in their Catechisms. The answer to the question: “What is Adoption?” is what might be expected from these master theologians. They say: “Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, in and for His only Son, Jesus Christ, whereby all those that are justified are received into the number of His children, have His name put upon them, the Spirit of His Son given to them, are under His fatherly care and dispensations, admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow heirs with Christ in glory” (Larger Catechism, Answer to Question 74).
There are many questions which arise in connection with this doctrine that cannot be discussed in a short article such as this. The doctrine which finds a place in so much of the religious teaching that all men are the sons of God almost in the same sense as the regenerate are has no foundation in Scripture and the view that God is the Father of all men in the sense that He is the Father of believers though heralded as a great discovery in modern religious teaching is contrary to the plain teaching of Scripture. All the adopted children of God are made partakers of the divine nature and have become heirs of a goodly inheritance.
The love of God revealed in adoption is as an ocean the farthest shore which no mortal eye has seen and whose depths no measuring line ever held in the hand of man has fathomed. The love of God is a great theme worthy of the study of angelic minds and which will be the delight of a ransomed people through eternal ages. The Apostle Paul in one of his extraordinary utterances, speaks of the height, depth, length and breadth of that love—it has a height, to use the words of Dr. Mason of New York, which has no top, a depth which has no bottom, a length that has no end and a breadth that has no limitation. How empty and shallow is the presentation of divine love that is so glibly set forth in so much in the religious teaching of modern times.
Has it ever been measured? and have we any record of its measurements? To which we answer in the affirmative. That He who was in the bosom of the Father from all eternity and who was the supreme manifestation of the Father’s love—God’s unspeakable gift—has given us the answer in His high priestly prayer when He says: “Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me” (John xvii. 23). Into these abysmal depths we will venture to enter but briefly point out what wonders are awaiting the children of God. Is it a wonder after what we have quoted that the Apostle should say of God’s grace and kindness (which is loving kindness)—”That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Eph. ii. 7).